{"id":984,"date":"2019-07-11T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T16:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/?p=984"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:04:17","slug":"gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ravichandran\"A group of genes that has been largely ignored by scientists could play critical roles in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), inflammation, and likely obesity and other metabolic diseases, new research suggests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came across the genes, called SLCs, kind of by accident,\u201d said researcher Kodi Ravichandran. \u201cInitially, just like everybody else, we were not paying much attention to the SLCs. But they kept coming up repeatedly in our gene expression analyses, and we realized this must be relevant. Then we took a serious dive into their biology, and we had a lot of fun surprises.\u201d [Read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of genes that has been largely ignored by scientists could play critical roles in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), inflammation, and likely obesity and other metabolic diseases, new research suggests. \u201cWe came across the genes, called SLCs, kind of by accident,\u201d said researcher Kodi Ravichandran. \u201cInitially, just like everybody else, we were not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-highlights","tag-delete"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\nGene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A group of genes that has been largely ignored by scientists could play critical roles in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), inflammation, and likely obesity and other metabolic diseases, new research suggests. \u201cWe came across the genes, called SLCs, kind of by accident,\u201d said researcher Kodi Ravichandran. \u201cInitially, just like everybody else, we were not […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-11T16:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T17:04:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"School of Medicine Webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"School of Medicine Webmaster\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"School of Medicine Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569\"},\"headline\":\"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-11T16:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T17:04:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":108,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Delete\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research Highlights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/\",\"name\":\"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-11T16:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T17:04:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"ravichandran\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/\",\"name\":\"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\",\"description\":\"University of Virginia School of Medicine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569\",\"name\":\"School of Medicine Webmaster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/892f3576ab4d29bd11981c3e45c61cbcf0ce3134064871521508e9a5c2450339?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/892f3576ab4d29bd11981c3e45c61cbcf0ce3134064871521508e9a5c2450339?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/892f3576ab4d29bd11981c3e45c61cbcf0ce3134064871521508e9a5c2450339?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"School of Medicine Webmaster\"},\"description\":\"I'm the webmaster.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/author\\\/uvasomwebmaster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","og_description":"A group of genes that has been largely ignored by scientists could play critical roles in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), inflammation, and likely obesity and other metabolic diseases, new research suggests. \u201cWe came across the genes, called SLCs, kind of by accident,\u201d said researcher Kodi Ravichandran. \u201cInitially, just like everybody else, we were not […]","og_url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/","og_site_name":"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","article_published_time":"2019-07-11T16:00:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-01T17:04:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"School of Medicine Webmaster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"School of Medicine Webmaster"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/"},"author":{"name":"School of Medicine Webmaster","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#\/schema\/person\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569"},"headline":"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases","datePublished":"2019-07-11T16:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-01T17:04:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/"},"wordCount":108,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg","keywords":["Delete"],"articleSection":["Research Highlights"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/","name":"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-11T16:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-01T17:04:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#\/schema\/person\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2019\/07\/ravichandran_0119-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"caption":"ravichandran"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/gene-discovery-reveals-new-targets-for-treating-atherosclerosis-inflammatory-diseases\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gene Discovery Reveals New Targets for Treating Atherosclerosis, Inflammatory Diseases"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#website","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/","name":"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","description":"University of Virginia School of Medicine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#\/schema\/person\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569","name":"School of Medicine Webmaster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/892f3576ab4d29bd11981c3e45c61cbcf0ce3134064871521508e9a5c2450339?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/892f3576ab4d29bd11981c3e45c61cbcf0ce3134064871521508e9a5c2450339?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/892f3576ab4d29bd11981c3e45c61cbcf0ce3134064871521508e9a5c2450339?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"School of Medicine Webmaster"},"description":"I'm the webmaster.","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/author\/uvasomwebmaster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":985,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions\/985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}